Soil Sickness in Fruit Orchards: Causes and Management
Soil Sickness in Fruit Orchards: Causes and Management
- Author(s) D.P. Sharma and Niranjan Singh
- Year: 2022
- Month: May
- Volume: 56
- Pages: 20-Jan
Soil sickness is a serious problem to establish new fruit orchards at the old orchard site. It is a complex soil sickness syndrome that reduces the plant growth, survival and yield of replanted trees. Various factors are responsible for soil sickness viz., (i) biotic factors i.e. rhizospheric microflora (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, nematodes and their interactions) and (ii) abiotic factors (phytotoxins, nutrient imbalance, low or high pH, soil structure and lack of excess soil moisture). In many cases, autotoxins may enhance soil-borne diseases by predisposing the roots to infection by soil-borne pathogens through direct biochemical and physiological effects. It is not easy to prevent the soil sickness problem because of its exact etiology and complex nature of problem and different biotic and abiotic factors are associated with it. The nature and intensity of incidence are variable from region to region and country to country and there is a lack of quick diagnostic methods. It cannot be controlled with one method and require integrated management practices. This review outlines the current knowledge on methods to reduce the negative effects of soil sickness in fruit orchards, which may be a promising strategy to improve the growth and yield of fruit trees in sick soils.
